Machine for making book covers



Jan. 26, 1960 w, c. BOYLE 2,922,172

MACHINE FOR MAKING BOOK COVERS Filed July 5, 1957 V 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 2

- INVENTOR. WILLIAM c. BOYLE BY KENWAY, JENNEY. WITTER HILDRETH I ATTORNEYS Jan. 26, 1960 w. c. BOYLE MACHINE FOR MAKING BOOK COVERS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 5, 1957 Fig 4 Fig. 3

INVENTOR. WILLIAM C. BO YLE KENWAY, JENNEY. WITTER & HILDRETH ATTORN EYS MACHINE FOR MAKING BOOK COVERS Filed July 5. 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 tit -x Ii ,l04 gd 'kjfi p Fig. 5

INVENTOR.

WILLIAM C. BOYLE BY KENWAY, JENNEY, wmsa & HILDRETHI ATTORNEYS Jan. 26, 1960 w. c. BOYLE 2,922,172

MACHINE FOR MAKING BOOK COVERS Filed July 5, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig. 60

INVENTOR. WILLIAM C. BOYLE KENWAY, JENNEY. WITI'ER & HILDRETH ATTORNEYS United States Patent F MACHINE FOR MAKING BOOK COVERS William C. Boyle, Melrose, Mass assignor to General Box Company, Waycross, Ga., a corporation of Florida Application July 5, 1957, Serial No. 669,991

1 Claim. (Cl. 11-2) The present invention relates. generally to the art of manufacture of book covers, and more particularly to a high speed web-fed machine for the production of substantially finished laminated cardboard reinforced book covers, and to the book cover made by such machine.

The techniques of book cover manufacture are dictated by the available materials and methods and by trade acceptance and custom. In the case of large editions of medium price the so-called buckram covers have been prevalent, these often having, a foundation of laminated cardboard or paper and cardboard over which a covering and reinforcement of suitable cloth is glued. Ordinarily, this cloth, or a cloth attached to it and forming an extension from. cover leaf to cover leaf, forms the hingepiece and thus becomes an important structural component of the cover, with the cardboard performing only the function of stiffening the cover leaves. In some forms the cardboard cover leaf reinforcements are laminated with a paper sheet which is continuous from cover leaf to cover leaf so as to stiffen the cloth hinge-piece. covering the backbone.

The relatively cheap, so-called paper-back editions which have been popular in recent years are provided with coated paper covers which are continuous from cover leaf to cover leaf and are glued directly to the backbone, frequently over a loosely woven cotton gauze reinforcement member or the like. While this arrangement does perform, some of the functions of a cover, the cover leaves are not stiff and the handling properties and durability are markedly inferior to those of cloth-bound books. Thisv is due largely to the inability of a paper sheet of uniform thickness to satisfy, on the one hand, the requirement for a sufficiently flexible cover to remain glued to the backbone despite repeated flexing, and on the other hand, the requirement for stiff, durable cover leaves.

One of: the objects of this invention is to provide a cardboard cover suitable for gluing to the backbone as in paper-back editions, yet having stiff, durable, cover leaves.

Another object is to provide a machine for the manufacture of such a book cover, adapted to accommodate the cost limitations identified with. mass-produced paperback" editions, while at the same time providing a book cover having some of the; improved characteristics associated with cloth bound editions.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the features of the invention include a cover of improved qualities produced by the provision of continuous web-fed apparatus including means for simultaneously feeding, gluing and laminating a cover board with a pair of reinforcing leaf boards, these boards being registered with precision when entering the gluer, and including side trimming slitters to insure clean-cut edges and a cut-off roll synchronized with the moving glued and laminated combined web to produce substantially finished covers 2,922,172 Patented Jan. 26,. 1960 ICC of unitary appearance and precisely uniform dimensions at. the delivery end of the machine.

It is therefore a feature of this machine that the operation is entirely continuous, producing finished covers at a, high speed. It will be understood that the precise side trimming and cut-off, operations insure a finished, unitary edge appearance which is ordinarily neither obtained' nor desired in conventional cardboard-reinforced covers having cloth or coated paper coverings glued thereover. This is due to the fact that the covering cloth or paper when used according to the prior art ordinarily hides slight deviations. in registration of the edges of laminae. In contrast, the finished coversv according to the present invention necessarily have substantially perfect registration between the laminae at all visible edges, whereby the cover is immediately ready for gluing to the backbone of the binding upon leaving the machine.

Other features of the invention reside in certain features of construction and in certain arrangements of the parts and modes of operation which will become clear from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, having reference to the appended drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the feed rolls for the machine according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 1;.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the gluing section of the machine;

Fig, 4 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the slitting and cut-off section of the machine at the delivery end thereof;

Fig. 6 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 5;

Fig. 6a is an end elevation of the cut-off roll 92 and anvil roll Fig. 6bis a detail view showing the assembly of the cut-off knives on the cut-off roll; and

Fig. 7 is a view inperspective of a finished book cover produced by the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the machine is arranged for convenience in three sections, afeed section, a gluing and combining section and a slitting and cut-off section supported respectively on stationary beds 12, 14 and 16. The bed 12 supports three mill rolls including a cover board roll 18 equal in width to slightly more than the sum. of the cover leaf widths plus the Width of the hinge section, and two leaf board rolls 20 and 22 accurately separated by a spacer plate 24' received over their common shaft 26. Preferably, the separator 24 is accurately dimensioned to space the rolls 20 and 22 according to the desired width of the hinge section of the finished cover.

The three mill rolls are supported in a conventional manner on trunnion blocks 28' provided with tension adjustment means, as for example a roll' 30 adapted to apply restraining force by friction to the shaft of a mill roll. The leaf board rolls 20 and 22 are fed from their tops to the gluing section, while the cover board roll 18 is fed under the bed 12 and around an idler roll 32.

It willbe understood that the cover and leaf rolls may be provided with suitable lateral adjustment means if desired, in accordance with conventional practice. The w1der.cover. board'stockmay, of course, be of a different type and gage from that of the leaf board stock. Thus in the case of the leaf boards stiffness is the prime requisite, whereas the cover board should have a pleasing appearance, scuff resistance and good flexibility. These properties may be enhanced by suitable coatings and impregnants known to those skilled in this art.

The three webs are fed to the gluing and combining sect1on illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4.- The cover board web 34 passes under the bed 14 and over an idler roll 36 to a combining subsection 37. The leaf board webs 38 go to a gluing sub-section 39, passing around a decurling idler roll 40, over a guide 42 described more fully below, and over a roll 44. They then pass beneath a roll 46 having a vertically adjustable axis to a glue applicator roll 48. This latter roll is a conventional gluer which is driven by conventional means, not shown, in contact with a glue pick-up roll 50 partially immersed in a glue pot 52. The webs 38 leave the gluing subsection 39 to enter the combining subsection 37 at a slightly downwardly-inclined angle. Thus it is seen that the roll 46 provides means for adjusting the contact pressure of the webs 38 upon the glue applicator roll 48.

The cover board web 34 passes over a guide 54 similar to the guide 42 and is combined with the leaf board webs 38 between driven pressure rolls 56 and58. The application of combining pressure is applied again as the web progresses between pressure rolls 60 and 62 and again between similar pressure rolls 64 and 66. The rolls 56 66 are driven at constant speed by a belt 68 passing over a constant speed shaft 70 (Fig. driven by a belt 72 from a constant speed motor 74.

The continuous laminated web 76 leaving the gluing and combining section is characterized by the accurate spacing of the cover board webs according to the desired width of the backbone. This spacing is the same as the width of the separator 24, and is accurately maintained by the guide 42. This latter guide consists of a flat board 77, edge restraining members 78 and 80, and a center member 82 whereby the outer edges of the webs 38 are restrained and the member 82 maintains the proper spacing of the inner edges according to the width of the hinge section of the finished book.

The cover board guide 54 is similar in construction to the guide 42. It is provided with edge restraining members similar to the members 78 and 80, but without a center member or separator similar to the member 82. It will be understood that close control over the registration of the laminae is thus provided.

The combined, glued web 76 is fed to the trimming and cut-off section illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. A pair of accurately spaced circular knife-edged slitters 84 trim the edges of the web to the precise overall dimension required, or in other words, to twice the width of the book leaves plus the width of the hinge section. The web is then passed through feed rolls 86 and 88.

From the rolls 86 and 88 the web 76 is fed over a continuous, smooth, hard steel anvil roll 90 which cooperates with a cut-01f roll 92 having knives 94 and 96 (Fig. 6a) and delivers the finished book covers upon a moving belt 97. The rolls 90 and 92 are driven at equal peripheral speed if the speed of the roll 92 is taken as the peripheral velocity of the edges of its cut-off knives. The rolls are driven by a gear 98 through conventional intermediate gear mechanism, not shown. The gear 98 is driven by a gear 100 which in turn is rotated by a variable drive mechanism 102 of conventional form. The mechanism 102 is powered by the constant speed shaft 70 driven by the motor 74 and is adjustable to deliver variable speed to a gear 104 in mesh with the gear 100.

Details of the mounting of the cut-off knives are shown in Fig. 6b. The knife 94, for example, is a straight blade with a sharp tapered edge held in position against the side of a transverse recess 105 in the roll 92 by a clamp bar 106 tightly clamped against the blade 94 by means of a plurality of spaced set screws 108. As shown in Fig. 6a, there are two blades 94 and 96 in diametrically opposed recesses and 112, but other recesses 114, 116, 118 and 120 are also provided and may be used for additional knives, if required. It will be understood that the number of knives and the adjustment of the variable speed drive 102 determine the top-to-bottom dimension, that is, the height of the book covers. Also, the peripheral velocity of the knives should exceed that of the web to obtain a clean cut. For example, if the length of the book cover from top to bottom is desired to be 12 inches, experience demonstrates that the peripheral speed of the knives should be about 14 inches per cover to obtain a clean cut. The cutting action is simultaneous at all points along the cut and hence resembles a chopping action.

To obtain other lengths of book covers, the adjustment of the variable speed drive 102 may be changed within certain limits for the illustrated case of two knives; or, one, three or six knives may be used, each set of knives providing a difl'erent range of possible heights of cover within a corresponding range of adjustment provided by the drive 102.

The resulting book cover 121 is of unitary appearance as illustrated in Fig. 7, and consists of a cover board 122 and two accurately spaced leaf boards 124 and 126. The leaf boards 124 and 126 are thoroughly glued to the cover board 122 since the glue applicator roll 48 applies glue over the entire surfaces of the webs 38. The side edges 128 of the laminae are precisely aligned because they are cut simultaneously in a single operation by the slitters 84. The top and bottom edges 130 are also precisely aligned because they are cut simultaneously by the cut-off knives 94 and 96. If desired, the cover board and leaf board rolls 18, 20 and 22 may be provided with decorative or other printing, or, printing may be applied subsequently to the manufacture of the book covers according to this invention.

A book cover manufactured as described above may be glued directly to the backbone of a binding by any of a variety of conventional methods commonly employed with paper-back editions, as described above.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

A machine for making book covers comprising in combination, supports for a cover board roll and two'separate leaf board rolls, means to feed a cover board web and two leaf board webs continuously and simultaneously and with the leaf board webs in mutually spaced relationship opposed to the cover board web, gluing means associated with the leaf board webs to apply glue thereto on the entirety of the surfaces opposed to the cover board web, means to combine the glued leaf board Webs with the cover board web with pressure while maintaining the leaf board webs in accurately spaced relationship, slitting means to cut the side edges of the combined web to an accurate dimension, and a cut-0E roll operative in timed relation to the speed of the slitted combined Web to sever it transversely at uniformly spaced intervals.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 1,158,180 Cohn Oct. 26, 1915 2,250,533 Hanson July 29, 1941 2,641,484 Brody June 9, 1953 2,739,635 Seaborne et al Mar. 27, 1956 

